All posts tagged Cartoons

Ever since I was a kid, I made cartoons and drawings to amuse my friends and myself. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about my musical life and the various funny aspects of it, and I’ve started to make drawings and cartoons about that. This is a selection of some of those pictures from the past couple of months.

Last year, when President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle decided to have a date night, they headed to Broadway and took in a performance of August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.” Now another work by Wilson, who died in 2005, is coming back to the Great White Way with two major talents in the lead roles. Oscar-winner Denzel Washington and Oscar-nominee and Tony-winner Viola Davis are starring at the Cort Theatre in “Fences,” which began previews this week, and will officially open on April 26. The play, set in Pittsburgh in the 1950s, tells the story of a Troy Maxson (Washington), a philandering garbageman fenced in by life, and haunted by the loss of his baseball-playing career. “Fences” won a Tony for best play and a Pulitzer when it was first staged on Broadway in 1987. Will the First Couple return for another date night? Read More »

When life hands you lemons, you hand it back Liz Lemon. That’s what Tina Fey did: she’s used the power of her pen to blur the line between fiction and reality to make the latter more to her liking. On “Saturday Night Live,” a program that hasn’t always been kind to female talent, she wrote her way to stardom, as head writer for the show and co-anchor on the “Weekend Update” desk. Next, she created a lead role for herself in the sitcom “30 Rock” as the fictional Liz Lemon, the head writer of an “SNL”-like sketch comedy show. This weekend, Fey, who also co-stars in the new movie “Date Night,” returns to “SNL” as the host, with musical guest Justin Bieber. Fey couldn’t have scripted a hotter career for herself. Read More »

The 1981 movie “Clash of the Titans,” starring Harry Hamlin, Laurence Oliver and others, was dismissed by many critics as camp, and trounced at the box office by “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” which opened on the same weekend. But many viewers have fond memories of the old-school stop motion effects by Ray Harryhausen, which brought mythic Greek creatures like Pegasus and Medusa to life. “Clash of the Titans” returns this week with a 3-D remake.

Leibovitz Under the Gun: Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz is hours away from potentially losing the rights to all of her photographs — not to mention four houses — if she can’t repay a $24 million loan to the Art Capital Group by the end of the day. Leibovitz took out the loan in 2008, using her life’s work and homes as collateral, but was sued by the Art Capital Group in July for breach of contract. [BBC News]

“Rings” Lawsuit Settled: Author J.R.R. Tolkien’s heirs and Warner Bros. — which acquired New Line Cinema in 2008 — have settled their dispute over divvying up the profits from the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. The film franchise, which has earned over $6 billion from box office receipts, DVD sales and merchandise, was the subject of a lawsuit filed by Tolkien’s heirs in 2008, who claimed that the studio owed it millions of dollars. To the delight of “Rings” fans, the settlement paves the way for the filming of “The Hobbit,” a planned “Ring” prequel being held up by the lawsuit. [AP]

Animated Trailer Makes YouTube Rounds: The book blogosphere is abuzz about the book trailer for Laurie Ann Levin’s new book “God, the Universe and Where I Fit In: A Psychic’s Reflections on Figuring Out the Rest of Your Life.” Unlike the standard formula, the ad is hand drawn (by ex Disney animator Dave Spafford and his team, no less), and is an account of her early life, ranging from her career as a Hollywood agent and her joining a cult on BoraBora. [PW] Read More »

Two weeks ago, actress and singer Patti LuPone grabbed a cell phone out of the hand of an audience member who was texting during a performance of her current play, "Shows for Days." The bold move led to an outpouring of support from fans fed up with glowing screens. Ms. LuPone gives us her five rules of theater etiquette.